Interior Mustang Mods

I'm wondering if you will have both low and high beam function with that harness connected to a two light system?

 

The harness is from the Capri, which is a 4 eyed.

 

I know but the Fairmont is two eyed.

 

Ya but he was talking about using a zephyr grill, which is 4 i'd.
Norm says he likes the dual headlights better.

 

Well that's a whole different story.

 

Glad that got sorted out!

 

I was confused....

 

The outside headlamp has both Hi/Lo beam circuits on the connector. So until I get it switched over, I can run the 2-eyed monster.

The 4-eyed extends the distance ahead by about 3 car lengths. This is Deer, Moose and Brown Bear Country, out here. Not as bad as BC and Alberta or Newfoundland, but it only takes once.

 

Well I checked all the wiring and found some bad connectors and 2 courtesy light wires rubbed bare! Never saw that before in any car, except under the hood. Anyway, all fixed!

I only have to merge the Door Locks and Window Motors and the rear harnesses. The Wagon has a tailgate wiper/washer, and the backup and license plate lites are in the gate, not the rear fascia.

 

Cleaned up and tested the Power Windows and Locks. A1! Checking the wiring for them tomorrow. We scooped the under seat wires, under the powerseat in the 1981 Squire, so I have to replace the wiring section that we couldn't reach, but I found enough of the right colours and lengths to do the job, from the old harness wires that I had.

 

Figured out why the 1981 AC condenser brackets wouldn't mount. The passenger side holes were missing on the cowl brace! We went a took pics off the Capri.

Got the front doors off and drilled for the power window harness grommets and reinstalled. The end is nearer. Rained on and off, so I had to stop and start about 5 times. The lightweight tarp stops sunlight, just not the liquid sunshine.

Derusted the window winder arms for painting. The manual arms won't work, but the power window arms were a bit of a worry, because mine has the non-vent-windows (longer). Length is identical to mine! I'll post pics tomorrow.

Also found some nice Overhead Console projects and one guy who builds custom units and optional inserts (in Australia!):
http://www.consoles.com.au/index.htm

Good details and forum tips from members on this one:
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/homebrew-overhead-console-38144/

 

Power Window Issues

These are the differences in Fox Wagons' power window versus manual window winders. The Black, rusty ones are what I got from the 1981 Squire, and the nice, clean one is the driver door manual winder from my rust-free Mexican door . I derusted the 1981 units. The black mounting bracket is also galvanized under the paint.

Glass-facing side



Interior-Facing side


As mentioned earlier, Ford used a dimple in the doors to 'mark' the power window and doorlock holes, probably for dealer installations. Unfortunately, the driver power doorlock dimple is under the VIN number plate. I just drilled through one to move it down, and not get nailed with tampering with it. American/Canadian built models have the VIN number at the bottom of the windshield.

Here's where the doorlock actuator dimple 'mark' is on the passenger side:


Here's the VIN plate, drilled out and shifted:


The Driver's door harness passthrough hole is 2" diameter in the door and 1.125 in the door frame, all the others are 1.25 in the door and 1" in the frame. The rear door frame holes were already stamped in, probably for undercoating.



BIG EDIT NOTE:
You will need the better quality hole saw bits. I screwed up and used one of the cheapies, made for wood, for the door hole above, and the bit wore the teeth right down. Fortunately, I had the good, diamond embedded bits to do the other holes. Milwaukee is a good brand and not too expensive.


I made another boo-boo though. I didn't take a picture of where the door harnesses are run through, because unlike the big Fords, these doors are tight for space. It looks like they run mostly between the inner door panel and the watersheild plastic. I'll soon find out, when I mount the harness clips. The Ford manuals and EVTM don't show these layouts very well. Neither do Haynes or Chilton manuals.

Oh yeah! The newer condenser mounting issue. The brackets and mounts for the 1981 Capri are different from the 1978-1981 Fairmont, because the condensers and hose connections are also different. Mine had the V8 compressor which mounts on the Driver's side. The I6 compressor mounts on the passenger side, so the old hoses won't fit (and the I6 hoses are no longer made, let alone find.)

They both use fender clip-type fasteners, but they're spaced differently, so I have to make the holes - one of them is square (1/2" X 1/2") on the passenger side. The Capri has been in the weeds for years, and so I had to get down to take pics:

Driver's side location:


Passenger side location (not a very good view, but identical spacing):


I just have to pull the airdam on mine and drill 4 small holes for the square and jigsaw it out, then drill the 5/16" for the bolt.

I measured the Capri spacing between holes and the height. Mustangs are the same.

 

Let me know when you need a hand putting those doors back on.

 

I've got a slick rig to do that. A big block of wood and a foot-operated wedge. Crude, but it worked.

I'll probably ask you for final adjustments though.

My eyeballs are stuck in my face - can't see the gaps, use the wedgy, adjust the gap and twist the wrench at the same time. An octupus could I'll bet. Or a mother of triplets.

 

I found a factory mystery wire in the passenger front power window circuit. The EVTM and Haynes circuits show 3 wires coming into a 4 wire connector and 3 going out. Somehow a fourth one comes from the relay (white-black dash) or pink-black dash (could be faded - Ford's wire colours weren't always made with good pigments). I think its duplicated in the under-seat harness. I'll sure find out when I connect everything. :confused:

Anyway, I did another boo-boo and found a solution. When we took the harness and PW/PDL motors out, we came with rain ponchos, but they were close to closing time, so we rushed to get finished. I got the harness, but the grommets for the front passenger door were missing, so I looked at my old harness and found a couple that were the exact sizes, and treaded each of the wires out of the old connectors, into new spare connectors after getting them through these cleaned up grommets. PITA, but there aren't many 4-door foxes with PW/PDL harnesses around. Kinda felt like learning knitting to get a boyscout badge.

Window winder hardware came out perfect (I let them soak for 24 hours.) Then I cleaned off the derusting water/vinegar residue by washing them in water, twice, then wiped them down with mineral spirits (lots of old grease between the arms) and painted them with ZERO-RUST black (arms only) and rustoleum black on the mounting brackets. Should be good for another 20 years.